


we were born before the wind

by mozartspiano



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 08:04:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20524694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mozartspiano/pseuds/mozartspiano
Summary: They haven't shut the curtains and the sun's setting over the tops of buildings, sunlight making patterns across William's face, his hands, and the skin of his ribs where Auston tugged at his shirt. It turns his eyes lighter, this pale blue that makes Auston want to wax shitty poetry, even just to watch Will laugh at him.





	we were born before the wind

**Author's Note:**

> title from van morrison's into the mystic

"Do you hate it?"

"No."

"You hate it."

William's thumb brushes over Auston's top lip. "I don't hate it, I swear. You're rocking it."

They're already sharing air, bodies two commas over the sheets, so Auston kisses him. William's mouth is soft and sweet with toothpaste and his breath warms Auston's skin when he giggles.

"It does tickle though," Will says, pulling back to grin.

"Sorry."

They haven't shut the curtains and the sun's setting over the tops of buildings, sunlight making patterns across William's face, his hands, and the skin of his ribs where Auston tugged at his shirt. It turns his eyes lighter, this pale blue that makes Auston want to wax shitty poetry, even just to watch Will laugh at him.

"Summer felt long," Auston says.

"Yeah." Will's eyes are downcast, looking at where his fingers are picking at the fabric of Auston's shirt. "You didn't even visit, not once."

"Enough of that."

"I'm a victim," Will says. Auston can't look away from his smile. "You've victimized me."

It's easy, to spread his fingers across the small of William's back and press their hips together. "You're something alright."

William laughs, once, closes his eyes against the sun. He has these tiny freckles on his face, a small group near his mouth and a few on the bridge of his nose. They're not dark like Auston's but golden and smudged and Auston sort of wants to take a picture of them to look at on nights he can't fall asleep.

"You know," William says, "I was thinking about how five years is a long time. But how five years is also a short time, kinda, and like, I. I mean. This is going really well. You and me."

"Really well," Auston says.

William opens his eyes: "I'm having a good time with you."

"A great time."

"Yeah and. Um. Uhhh, I forgot what I was going to say."

"What a shame," Auston says. He takes Will's bottom lip between his, bites at it until William's squirming in his arms. He doesn't let him get too far, steals kisses even as Will tries to speak.

"Wait, wait, I remember," he says. "Stop it, I had something to say."

"I'm good not talking."

Will's hands come up on either side of Auston's face. He holds him still, brow serious even as his mouth curves up. "Stop it right now. You listen up."

"Yes, Coach."

His mouth is pink, smiling, and Auston doesn't know how he went all summer without him.

"Things are going good with us," Will says and the sun has sunken further now and is painting the room orange. "And in five years, if things are still going good with us, I just wanted to tell you that I. I would follow you, if you wanted to go somewhere else."

There's a patch of sunlight across the pale skin of Will's throat and Auston stares at it, instead of Will's eyes. He can't seem to find his breath in the space between them.

"I know you might want to go home, or whatever," William says. "And when our contracts are up, I don't want you to think I wouldn't go too."

Auston doesn't look away from the stretch of sun: "You'd come with me?"

He sees William shrug, the shift of his clothes over bone and muscle, the way it drags his shirt up a bit more. "I've already lived in most of the cities in the Continental U.S. What's one more?"

He puts his thumb there, where the sun is brightening William's neck. It's hot, the blind of setting sun through his bedroom window, and he can feel William's heartbeat under it. Will doesn't move.

"Sorry if that's too much to say."

Auston shakes his head and that movement makes a rough noise, his skin brushing against the sheets. They're the ones he got with his mom when he first moved to Toronto, before he played his first game and scored four goals and met Will, really, before Will became this brightness in his life.

"It's not too much."

"Good." Auston can't seem to move his thumb and he feels Will swallow before he says, "And it's okay. That like. That you wouldn't do the same for me."

"What?" Auston watches William watch him. He can feel his own brows go furrowed in the middle. "I would follow you."

"If the fucking, I don't know, Carolina Hurricanes phoned tomorrow," Will says, voice dry, "You're telling me you would ditch the captaincy and the Yotes and all the rest to join me."

Auston says, "You don't think I would."

"I think it took you three months to tell me you loved me after I had already told you," William says, matter of fact. His big, bright eyes are caught on something out the window. "It's okay. It doesn't keep me up at night."

"I would."

"Okay."

"William," Auston says. He curls his fingers around the back of Will's throat. "If the fucking Canes called tomorrow, I would pack my bags for Raleigh."

"Really."

"If there's cap for both of us," Auston says. "We gotta be making bank, babe, otherwise fuck them."

Will laughs, his throat vibrating under Auston's fingers. He presses his long nose to Auston's briefly before backing away again. "I don't believe you," he whispers.

"No?"

"No," William says.

"That's okay," Auston says. He still hasn't caught his breath, imagining Will by his side for the rest of everything. "You'll believe it when you see it."

Will has lines around his eyes, faint, where his smile goes when it's on his face. Auston kisses him there before adjusting them both, tucking William's head under Auston's chin. William's arms come to clutch at him, tight.

The light is shrinking across the hardwood floor now, taking the day with it. Soon they'll get up to make dinner, Will's heels clanking against the kitchen cupboards, Auston chopping onions clumsy but fine, the way his grandmother taught him. 

"Hey Will?"

"Mm?"

"I'm happy here," Auston says. He slides his hand up until it's between William's shoulder blades under his shirt. His hand rises with every breath. "Really, really happy here."

**Author's Note:**

> me on capfriendly.com: huh we love soulmates whose contracts end at the same time  
also me on capfriendly.com: kyle could u not have signed auston to a 37 yr contract im dying
> 
> i can be found [here](https://butternutstyles.tumblr.com/).


End file.
